Ice Ice, Baby.

If you've got an injury, yo! They'll solve it! Check out PT Solutions and their awesome physical therapists!

I love music. And I'm from the 90's. What can I say? ;)

I love ice carving to my core, don't get me wrong, but it is physically demanding. Being a petite woman, using a chainsaw as my weapon of choice (weighing in at 18 pounds by itself) and shuffling around full blocks and carvings that weigh up to 300 pounds presents some physically straining challenges, for sure.

Adding to the fact that I dislocated my shoulder while working as a cake decorator almost a year ago certainly didn't make things easier. What did, however, was going to see Kelly Sekhon, PT, DPT, CSCS at PT Solutions in Bolingbrook, IL.

With my super busy schedule at the time, she was still able to get my shoulder feeling better and ready to start my ice carving ventures last fall. With repeat use and getting hired as a part time ice carver with Nadeau's Ice Sculptures, I wound up going right back to PT Solutions to maintain, strengthen, and build stamina for my ambitious plans of carving last winter.

As time has gone by, I have fallen in love with ice carving even more, and don't see myself stopping any time soon. And for that reason, I'm SO GRATEFUL to have physical therapists like the ones at PT Solutions to help me along the way!

As you all know if you've been reading these posts, I've been carving small pieces at home to keep up my skills during these crazy shutdown times with ice that Nadeau's has been generous enough to donate to me to practice on. Now that I have the kinks in my freezer situation at home worked out, I am ready to share my ice with the world instead of it melting away in my front yard! :) Of course, one of the first businesses I thought of was PT Solutions to share an ice carving with!

The one thing that I always need for my physical therapy visits is my tennis shoes, of course! Kelly also just so happens to be a runner, so that made it even more appropriate! I added some laces to give it just the right look. Here's the picture I took before it went back into the freezer.

It's really nice to be able to actually take a picture of it fresh out of the freezer when it is still frosty like the one below at their office, the details and shape are a little easier to make out when it's not dripping with water!

A big THANK YOU! goes out to all of the physical therapists at PT Solutions for their stellar work both before the quarantine and consistently as they adjusted their methods to working with masks and sanitizing everything constantly for our safety. And, a big THANK YOU! to all of the rest of the healthcare and essential workers that have been masking up and supporting our communities through these times.

Here is Kelly, she was so excited to get to see the finished carving in person instead of just pictures of my work over the last few months while being her patient.

And as always, a big THANK YOU! goes to the lovely people at Nadeau's Ice Sculptures for facilitating my ice efforts. I literally couldn't do it without you.

And THANK YOU! to my cousin Dalia who ended up coming over to help me move the solid blocks into the freezer last minute when my plans had changed. Nothing like moving four 100 pound slippery and wet chunks of ice from the car to be placed strategically in a freezer, am I right Dalia?! :)

Although I wasn't able to line up takers for the other carvings I made last week before they melted, I was of course able to take some pictures and videos of the process along the way. The videos will be uploaded to the video gallery at the top of this page soon!

I'm working on refining shapes on these smaller carvings. If you know anything about 3D art, you know that the smaller the piece is, the more challenging it can be. These carvings are 1/4 the size of the blocks that I am used to carving. And I'm carving in a garage in the summer that gets near 90 degrees so the ice melts super fast. Added variables like this keep things exciting for sure, but once I'm back to carving full blocks this winter I'll be grateful for the experience!

Polar bear, geometric dog, and a groovy owl were the other pieces I worked on.

Whether you're an artist with a chainsaw and a vision or a physical therapy patient with an injury, you'll want the same thing: ice ice, baby! ;)

Bay leaf me, gardening is how I romaine calm!

I love puns and Parks and Rec, I just couldn't help myself! ;)

During these crazy times (I should keep a running counter on how many times I say things like this in these posts...) it is easy to get stressed out, not to mention straight up concerned about where your supply of organic vegetables is going to be coming from!

I decided to start a garden to manage the stress, and literally connect to where food comes from back in early April after the last major snow here in Chicagoland. What it has blossomed into has been amazing to experience!

Over the last few weeks I have been growing pumpkins, butternut squash, sage, red basil, zucchini, celery, tomatoes, kale, and potatoes (pictures above, in order top to bottom left to right).

I'm also growing arugula, spinach, broccoli, oregano, yellow bell peppers, radishes, carrots, onions, cilantro, jalapeno, thyme, basil, Brussels sprouts, and lettuce (I just didn't want to bore you with too many plant pictures!).

The major realization that I came to, aside from the fact that nature is seriously amazing, is that this is a missing component to my culinary school experience. Even one step further, dare I say a missing component to grade school and high school (at least where I grew up). Gardening should be part of our core curriculum as people. It just makes sense.

I went to Joliet Junior College, and only one chef there grew any of his own herbs in class (Master Chef Bucci, you are talented as hell!). Chefs in general do not garden or familiarize themselves with where our food comes from as much as they should, in my opinion. It has progressed a lot over the last few years in a positive way, for sure, but there is so much more we could be doing to appreciate our food! Watching my vegetables grow before my eyes, then turning them into dishes that let them really sing... well that just seems like the right way to do it. Such a rewarding experience. Hard work, lots of love, a little sweat, but most of all, a connection to something bigger. Through these challenging times I think that connection is even more important.

These little radishes turned into a delicious garnish for some tacos we had made. A simple pickling liquid sure did the trick with this one!

And the arugula makes my Leafy Green Pecan Parmesan Pesto have the perfect peppery bite. It's available for online ordering, just fill out the contact form by clicking here!

Here's a delicious sauteed chicken breast, stuffed with mascarpone, parmesan, and some of my fresh organic spinach from the garden. I served it over some of my handmade pasta, made a yummy chicken sauce from the fond in the pan, and topped with shards of parmesan, little leaves of my fresh baby red basil, and lots of lemon zest. Now if I could just get a lemon tree to grow and produce lemons... that might be one of the only things I'm missing in my garden!

Another garden fresh delicious treat, some of that zesty leafy green pesto with roasted carrots, zucchini, and shallots. It's a perfect side dish, or literally a meal on its own!

Ultimately, I feel like gardening during quarantine brought some serious inspiration to me in the form of beautiful plants, singing birds, fresh dirt smells, and my new favorite accessory: a gardening hat. I'm grateful for the many things I've learned in my little organic garden in the corner of the yard, and can't wait to continue to learn and grow under the shade of my floppy gardening hat (now if that isn't a metaphor for my goals in life, I don't know what is! ;) ).

Celebrate good times, come on!

Even during these uncertain times, I would say that celebrating with loved ones is more important than ever. Just because the parties and gatherings that we used to have don't look the same as they used to doesn't mean we can't find ways to enjoy them anyway!

Some people have turned to online live video broadcasts with all of their friends and family members; even in those instances it is still nice to have a little something special to make it feel like a celebration.

This couple below held an online live gender reveal party. I love how people are getting so creative with their decorations at home! Super cute pink and blue flowers! Their cake was vanilla dyed blue to reveal the gender with blueberry lemon ginger compote in the center and blue buttercream. Carved by hand to resemble their favorite iconic ball and covered seamlessly in fondant, it made an impact even from a distance (or through a video ;) )!

Or if you have a larger family, decorated sugar cookies are the perfect thing to celebrate with your siblings! This golden thirteenth birthday was gold from head to toe, from the adorable golden decorations at their house to the glitzy golden accents on the royal iced sugar cookies.

Or maybe you don't have an "actual" holiday to celebrate (let's be real here, another day of sunshine and puppy licks is definitely a holiday in my book) but still want to celebrate, some made from scratch yeast doughnuts are a great option.

They're tricky to make, especially at home, but are one of my all time favorite comfort foods.

Truly, you don't need a party to have a doughnut as far as I'm concerned. All you need to do is place an order through the contact tab at the top of this page and a doughnut, golden sugar cookie, or blueberry filled cake slice can make your day a celebration!